Where are ALL the moderate religious leaders of
all religions? They must get together and make a pledge to fight extremism from
within their ranks, with the representation of the majority religion being
essential and critical and MUST provide leadership to a multifaith initiative
to allay the fears of religious minorities.
I know there are many Muslims and Christians who
do not know what to do with this new turn of events. There are those who are
planning to leave the country, there are others who want to keep their
investments and wealth outside the shores of Sri Lanka in case of urgency.
There are still others that are funding extreme fringe groups to counter this
force of the majority community, namely the BBS, which can only lead to
disaster. In this situation it is an extremists delight. They have the upper
hand in their fund raising saying that they are the force to defend their
religion or race against attack. Otherwise how does one think the LTTE was able
to raise such an obscene amount of money to fight this war for so long.
We in Sri Lanka gave them all the ammunition
(pardon the pun) to find the funds to buy the ammunition. It is history
repeating itself again and our leaders (moderate) cannot see that far.
What or who are we waiting for? It is imperative
that we join forces and work as one in defeating all extremism. We are
currently giving coverage to hate more than reconciliation and unity. Why is
that? Does that provide more news for the media, and keep the journalists
employed? We must look further than tomorrow at the legacy of this action, of
the consequences, and act with restraint, and cunning in preventing the rise of
factions of extremist myths propounded by people who without the myth will not
have an audience of even one!
Rabble rousing is the specialty of some people.
They do it because they are good at it and are effective and they know they can
exert immense power over gullible and foolish people. The President is also one
of them, who can do the same due to the position he holds and the way that
position is portrayed in the media. It is therefore up to him personally to
intervene to stop a further expansion of this sectarian philosophy born out of
hate and pettiness. It is a historic opportunity to show leadership at a moment
when it is desperately needed for the unity of the nation.
It is incredibly sad that with the windfall of
goodwill arising from the cessation of hostilities it has not just eroded, in
fact reversed into badwill, something that history will show as making MR one
of SL’s worst rulers in its 2500 year history.
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